International Trade as an Instrument to Consolidate Peace and Stability in the Mediterranean Area

During the last twenty years, Europe started to search for a new approach towards the Mediterranean region: after the re-start of its internal economy after the World War II, and after the re-launch of the economic integration process, Europe began a diffuse reflection on its relationships with the Northern African and Middle Eastern countries. This reflection produced several forms of partnerships and alliances and my intention with this paper is to highlight the main steps of this convergent pathway that started in 1995 with the EuroMediterranean Partnership (EMP)